Comprehensive Analysis: Michelangelo's Last Judgment - ART 3 Essay

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of Michelangelo's Last Judgment, a renowned fresco painting located in the Sistine Chapel. The essay examines the painting's introduction, form, content, and historical context. It highlights Michelangelo's inspiration from the Bible and his innovative departure from traditional artistic conventions. The analysis covers the painting's composition, including the central figure of Christ, the depiction of saints, angels, and demons, and the overall structure which depicts the judgment of humanity. The essay further discusses the painting's religious and artistic significance, its powerful impact, and its place in art history, noting both praises and criticisms. The painting is characterized by its dense composition, muscular figures, symbolic activities, and the portrayal of the ultimate moment of fate, solidifying its place as a significant religious artwork of the 16th century and a prime example of the High Renaissance and Mannerist styles. References are provided to support the analysis.

Running head: ART
Introduction, form, content and context
Roman History
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Author Note

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The Last Judgment is a Fresco painting made by the great Italian painter Michelangelo di
Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, who is also commonly known as Michelangelo, during the
Renaissance period. The painting is across the altar wall of Sistine Chapel at Vatican City. The
painting is a depiction of Christ’s second coming as well as the last and eternal judgment given
by God for humanity (Khanacademy.org). The depiction is one of the most famous and
significant paintings, in the history. Michelangelo was inspired to make the painting as he was
inspired by Bible but it is entirely out of his creative imagination that he was given the painting,
the great form and content (Moroncini).
The painting is credited for breaking away from the conventions and tradition way of
depiction, as were employed in paintings, during the time. In traditional patterns, hell, Earth and
heaven were depicted through horizontal layers, which was replaced in the painting through the
overall structure (Khanacademy.org). Michelangelo wanted to depict the terrible emptiness of
eternity which he has characterized in his work through isolation of the individuals and figures
into plastic formations. Christ is present in the painting right at the center, with which, the artist
ties to capture the exact moment before the verdict of Last Judgment is given (Moroncini).
Vergine Maria or Virgin Marie has been depicted on Christ’s right hand side who awaits the
judgment with a gesture which justifies her resignation.
Christ is surrounded by the God’s elected members and Saints, in a movement of slow
rotation (Italian-renaissance-art.com). The most notable figures who have been depicted in the
painting include Saint Peter, Saint Laurence, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Catherine of Alexandria
and St Sebastian. At a lower section, the angels are posited, who symbolize the Apocalypse, who
blow trumpets in order to wake the dead (De Campos, et al). Those who have left, rise towards
heaven as they make attempts to recover their bodily figures. On the right side lies the demons

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and angels who fight while others are damned to go to hell (Italian-renaissance-art.com). The
representation of Hell lies below, which has been represented harrowingly against a sky full of
flames as the backdrop.
The exact moment has been depicted by Michelangelo with the employment if terror
through his creation and masterstrokes (Khanacademy.org). He projects the supreme moment in
which fate is ultimate and none can escape. There is no time in hard for altering the mistakes
committed for which one can be damned, which bears universal significance of that precise
moment of judgment (Italian-renaissance-art.com).
The composition of the painting is among the most powerful in the art history of
Christianity. The wall is full of 300 muscular figures, in extraordinary poses depicting symbolic
activities (De Campos, et al). There is a sacred narrative in the art which depict significant events
of the past implying that when it is to happen, the fate will be determined, which even means that
the fate of the viewers are predetermined, which one cannot escape. The painting is dense and
rich in composition yet it is very precise in the arrangement and organization as the figures and
depictions have been divided into tier, subgroups, quadrants and significant pairings which
facilitate meaning and add liability to the Fresco (Khanacademy.org).
Christ is the focal point in the entire complexity of the composition, who have been
created as a muscular and powerful figure who twists his body in a gesture to set forth for the
final moment of selection for whether one is blessed to be on the right or goes on the left to be
damned, eternally (Khanacademy.org). There also is a poignant self portrait which Michelangelo
was inserted into the Fresco as he holds a shell which is empty caught in between hell and
heaven. The painting has a border which is unlike that of the paintings which are installed in the
ceilings and across the walls.

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The Last Judgment is considered to be the greatest religious artwork in the 16th century
which marks the rise of paintings signifying High Renaissance and the mannerist style of
painting. The painting was received by the audience both in the light of praises and criticisms
alike, as the thoughts are based on artistic viewpoints as well as religious thoughts. The depiction
of nudity has been one of the reasons for contention by the audience, yet it continues to be one of
the best masterpieces to have been created signifying the eternal judgment.

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References
De Campos, Deivis, et al. "M ichelangelo, the Last Judgment fresco, S aint B artholomew and
the G olden R atio." Clinical Anatomy 28.8 (2015): 967-971.
Italian-renaissance-art.com. "Last Judgement, Michelangelo's Sistine Masterpiece". Italian
Renaissance Art.Com, 2020, https://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Last-
Judgement.html.
Khanacademy.org. "Last Judgment By Michelangelo (Article) | Khan Academy". Khan
Academy, 2020, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/high-
ren-florence-rome/michelangelo/a/michelangelo-last-judgment.
Moroncini, Ambra. "Poetry and theology in Michelangelo’s last frescoes 1." Michelangelo's
Poetry and Iconography in the Heart of the Reformation. Routledge, 2017. 114-140.